Answered By: Nancy Alzo

Last Updated: Apr 01, 2015Views: 21

Generally, a periodical is a encompassing term that refers to something that is published "periodically" - on a regular basis. This may be a magazine, like Time magazine, or, a journal such as JAMA - the Journal of the American Medical Association or even an annual publication such as the Annual Review of Anthropology.

More specifically, we often differentiate between academic versus "popular" periodicals by using the term journal for scholarly, academically-oriented publication and magazines for publications of general, popular interest.